Arm for Twirling a Flag, Banner or Rally Rag From a Hat or Helmet

ABSTRACT

A hat or helmet having an electric motor driven rotatable arm permanently or temporarily affixed to its top exterior. The arm holds a rally rag, banner or flag for twirling about.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a perfection of Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/484,344, filed on Apr. 11, 2017, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to crazed fan apparel, i.e. a hat or helmet, that allows for hands-free rooting of one's favorite team to victory in a new, stylized manner. We like to pump our fists in the air to rally our team on. And, many teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers, have their own, world famous, rallying rag (known as the Terrible Towel®) that must get twirled in a crowd. That gets our team's offense and/or defense Fired Up!

This invention keeps one's hands free while having a hat or helmet-topped arm do the twirling on behalf of its wearer.

2. Description of the Prior Art

A prior art patentability search was conduced to examine the novelty of a hat or helmet with a twirling arm. The following are considered relevant to my invention but clearly distinguishable therefrom (in chronological order):

Schmahl et al U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,156 disclosed a toy or novelty hat that had a ball circulating about as best seen in FIG. 5 of that disclosure.

A two-ball rotation was shown in Petrucelli U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,884.

Barkhordar U.S. Pat. No. 3,453,771 disclosed a cap having a swinging tassel element atop its central point.

Thornock U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,127 showed a solar powered display rotating for advertising on the top center of a hat.

Power-Fardy U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,471 disclosed a self-contained display device for the bill of a ball cap. A wagging musical note is shown.

Vega Garcia U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,527 has a “fun cap” with motorized clapping hands.

And Dilworth et al. U.S. Pat. No. 8,758,074 showed a set of remote-controlled, mechanized bunny ears.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

My invention is a hat, cap or helmet having a miniaturized rotating arm that sits atop a hat (or helmet) and is mechanically powered to rotate with a battery driven motor. The arm has means for clipping a rally rag or other pennant/banner/flag for rotation with the axial movement of this arm about the top of the hat, cap or helmet. The rotation of the arm is preferably powered by a small DC motor within the hat with a manual (or remotely activated) On-Off switch. A phone app could also turn this motor on and off. Alternate versions may include a wound up motor or a solar powered variation.

The preferred hat structure is in the form of a football helmet. Alternate types include, but are not limited to: a baseball style ballcap, or an enlarged foam, puck-shaped hat and/or basketball-shaped contraption. Also, there may be soccer style versions (where the arm waives a scarf in the team's colors), a NASCAR or bike helmet variation, or an Olympic compatible hat in which the arm waives about a nation's flag. Still other variations might include an Indian's tomahawk motion (more back and forth, rather than twirling) for fans of the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians and/or Kansas City Chiefs.

The arm attached to the top of this cap can be made in masculine or feminine varieties, with or without bicep muscles, and in numerous skin shades. In a preferred variation, parts of a shirt sleeve may be visible on the arm, that shirt sleeve being representative of a particular sports' team uniform.

The size of the rally rag included in that rotating arm can also vary. A miniaturized Terrible Towel® is included as a representative twirling object.

The internal motor for rotating that arm (inside the helmet, or hat) should have sufficient electricity to power up or down, be rotatable in one or maybe multiple directions (i.e., both clockwise AND counterclockwise) and be easily turned on and off. In a further variation, this motor may further power a small uplight so as to better emphasize its arm rotatability for indoor held events.

A primary object of my invention is to provide a novelty hat or helmet with a rotatable arm for twirling a given promotional towel/rag/banner/pennant or flag.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novelty helmet/hat that can be comfortably worn by a person for extended periods of time.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novelty hat which is self powered, using a DC driven motor, or a photovoltaic material with an electrical power source, in the alternative.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent by reading the remaining specification while examining the accompanying photographs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features, objectives and advantages of this invention will become clearer with the following Detailed Description made with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a rear perspective view of my invention illustrating the rotating arm, at rest (i.e., the motor has been turned off) with a rally towel or rag wedged between the thumb and pointer finger of the hand;

FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of the helmet, arm and rally rag from FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top perspective view showing one embodiment of battery-powered rotational motor INSIDE the helmet of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the helmet from FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the arm held rally rag being rotated clockwise in the direction of arrows A; and

FIGS. 5A, B, C, D and E are perspective views showing variations of this invention using a ball cap (5A), hockey puck hat (5B), basketball-shaped hat (5C) and soccer-ball shaped hat (5D).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of this invention includes a hard hat/safety helmet 10 but can also be a true football helmet, a baseball cap (item 110 in FIG. 5A), a puck-shaped hockey hat (item 210 in FIG. 5B), a basketball-shaped hat (item 310 in FIG. 5C), a soccer-ball shaped hat (item 410 in FIG. 5D or an automotive or bicycle racing helmet (item 510 in FIG. 5E).

Fitting comfortably inside any of the foregoing headgear (helmet, puck hat and/or ball cap) is a DC-powered motor 20 in FIG. 3) that serves as an electrical power source for a pivotal, rotational pin 30 extending from the outside of that helmet 10 (or other headgear). A muscular forearm 40, with its own (rally rag-holding) hand 50 affixes to pivotal pin 30 for twirling a rally rag 60 when the helmet's motor 20 is turned ON, either manually by activation of a button 70, or via a handheld remote (R). Per FIG. 4, the rally rag 60 can be rotated clockwise about the top of helmet 10 (as shown by the directional arrows A). Alternately, the invention can be configured to spin the rag about in a counter-clockwise direction, or in either manner as selected by its wearer.

The rallying rag-holding component for hand 50 at the end of forearm 40 can accommodate numerous flags/banners or the like. The simplest version includes a slot 80 for wedging rally rag 60 between the thumb and finger of hand 50. Alternately, hand 50 can be fitted with a pin, or spring-loaded clip 180 as seen in FIG. 5A. The invention can also be made and sold with a permanently fitted, rally rag/team color scarf and/or banner for twirling.

On a more preferred basis, the forearm 40 includes part of a shirt sleeve 90 that mimics a particular team's colors . . . in this case, black for a Pittsburgh Steelers' shirt.

When power is supplied, via the internal (preferably sweat-proof, i.e. waterproof) motor 20, the handheld rallying rag/towel 60 held by the arm 40 atop helmet 10, will begin to rotate, and continue rotating until it is either manually shut off or timed to cease, temporarily. Still other variations to a manual ON-OFF or remotely held activation switch could include a sound-activated start/stop switch.

While the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is manifest that many changes may be made in the arrangement of components without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. It is understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein for purposes of exemplification, but is to be limited only by the scope of the attached claim or claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A hat with a motorized rotating arm designed to hold and twirl about a rally rag.
 2. The hat of claim 1, which is battery powered.
 3. The hat of claim 1, which is mechanically turned on and off.
 4. The hat of claim 3 wherein the motor is activated by one or more of: a remote control and a phone app.
 5. The hat of claim 1, which can be sound activated to rotate for a set amount of time.
 6. The hat of claim 1, which is in a shape selected from the group consisting of: a safety hard hat, a football helmet, a baseball cap, an enlarged foam hockey puck, an enlarged basketball-shaped hat, an enlarged soccer ball-shaped hat and an automotive or bicycle racing helmet.
 7. The hat of claim 1 wherein the rotating arm includes a portion of shirt sleeve matching a team jersey colors.
 8. The hat of claim 1 wherein the rally rag is selected from the group consisting of: a sports team's colors, a soccer scarf, a country's flag and a car racing driver's colors and/or number.
 9. A motor-powered novelty hat comprising: (a) a head covering component; (b) an on-off controlled motor inside the head covering component; (c) a rotatable stem extending from the motor and to an upper, outer surface of the head covering component; (d) an appendage resembling a small, human forearm, said appendage having a hand component; and (e) a sports rally rag for positioning in the hand component of the appendage and rotating about when the motor is turned on.
 10. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the head covering component is a sports hat selected from the group consisting of: a safety hard hat, a football helmet, a baseball cap, an enlarged foam hockey puck, an enlarged basketball-shaped hat, an enlarged soccer ball-shaped hat and an automotive or bicycle racing helmet.
 11. The novelty hat of claim 10 wherein the head covering component is a safety hard hat in a sports team's colors.
 12. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the appendage includes a section of sports jersey as a sleeve element therefor.
 13. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the motor is battery powered.
 14. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the motor can be activated by a hand held remote control.
 15. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the motor can be activated by a phone app.
 16. The novelty hat of claim 9, which can be sound activated for commencing a timed rotation by the motor.
 17. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the rally rag is a small towel in a sports team's colors.
 18. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the rally rag is a soccer team's scarf.
 19. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the rally rag is representative of a country's flag.
 20. The novelty hat of claim 9 wherein the rally rag is representative of a car racing driver's colors and/or number. 